James 4:13-14 - What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while ...

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

James 4:13-14

Commentary

James does not condemn wise business planning, but rather planning that leaves out God. The people so depicted are practical atheists, living their lives and making their plans as if God did not exist. Such conduct is inconsistent with genuine saving faith, which submits to God.

MacArthur, J. J. (1997, c1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Jas 4:13). Nashville: Word Pub.

Related Verse

Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

Proverbs 27:1 (NIV)

Jeremiah 33:3 - Call to me and I will answer you

'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'

Jeremiah 33:3

Commentary

Call to Me is a sign of the great love of God for His prophet. He invited Jeremiah to pray and then promised an answer to that prayer beyond Jeremiah's present understanding. God's people are invited to do the same (John 15:16).

Thomas Nelson, I. (1997, c1995). Woman's study Bible . (Je 33:3). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Background

Jeremiah did not understand how God could restore a nation that was destined for doom (32:24-25), so the Lord challenged the prophet to call to Him for understanding. God said He would then reveal "great and unsearchable things." Only God can unlock the secrets of the future, and He offered this knowledge to Jeremiah.

Dyer, C., Merrill, E., Swindoll, C. R., & Zuck, R. B. (2001). Nelson's Old Testament Survey : Discover the Background, Theology and Meaning of Every Book in the Old Testament (622). Nashville: Word.